Samael
is a character featured in Darksiders and Darksiders II. A demon of immense power, Samael once possessed enough power to rival that of the Dark Prince's. He was exiled to the shattered Earth for defying the Destroyer and was confined to the Scalding Gallows prison. In addition, he was stripped of a significant portion of his power, which was subsequently split among the Destroyer's Chosen. He later regained his lost power with the help of War, and escaped his prison as a result. Samael helped both War and Death in their journeys, but only to further his own agenda. His true plans remain a mystery, and his current whereabouts are unknown. Overview Formerly a prince of demons, Samael rejected the Destroyer's rule in Hell and was sentenced to eternal imprisonment. In Darksiders, War frees Samael and made a pact with him. War brought him the four Hearts of the Chosen in return for Samael's assistance in helping him reach the Tower. He is a dark force to be reckoned with, according to Vulgrim. Even while diminished with the large portion of his power in the possession of the Chosen, he was able to grant War several different powers, such as Shadowflight and Chronomancer. He is also able to see War's every action from a distance, which implies some level of omniscience. When his powers were restored, he boasted that he was like unto a god. According to Lilith, no demon lord in any realm could match Samael's power. The mad queen stated that, if he wanted to, he could have taken control of all Hell's forces and ruled over all demon kind as their undisputed master. This adds further credence to Vulgrim's comment that the Blood Prince may have been considered a threat by the Dark One himself. Biography 'Origin' Samaels background is shrouded in mystery but he is no doubt one of the oldest and most powerful demons in creation, ruling the Red Court at his fortress of the Black Stone in the Dark Kingdom. Death stated the demon lord was present when the Horsemen slaughtered the Nephilim ages ago, watching with great interest. 'Darksiders Comic Book' At some point shortly before the Apocalypse, Lilith approached him in his stronghold with an offer to fulfill his every desire, though what she wanted in return is unknown. Samael showed no sign of considering her offer and told her he desired only her silence as the Four Horsemen arrived to warn Samael about keeping the peace between Heaven and Hell. First, Samael told them to visit the Dark One with their warnings, as he was ruler of the realm, but the Horseman asserted the true balance of power was in Samael's favor rather than the Dark One's. Lilith, angered by War's comment on her presence, told them it was Abaddon that preached war and bid them collar the angel rather than the Blood Prince. 'Darksiders' After the Apocalypse was over, Samael opposed the rule of the Destroyer. For his rebellion, he was imprisoned in the Scalding Gallow and stripped of much of his power. When the Horseman came to see him, Vulgrim told War to find Samael in order to find out how to get to the Destroyer's Tower. When War entered the center of the Scalding Gallow, he defeated the prison's guards and freed Samael who struck a deal with him: In exchange for the hearts of the Chosen, War would be given a path to the Black Throne. Before War left, Samael gave him the Shadowflight ability. When War returned with the first heart, ripped from the first Chosen - Tiamat, Samael asked him to also bring the heart of the second Chosen - Griever, but warned that he must also deal with the Black Hammer. The Watcher accused Samael of changing the deal, but was knocked aside and the demon accused it of being "filth" and a "parasite". Samael told War to destroy the Watcher, but War only struck the Watcher hard enough to stun after temporarily transforming into his Chaos Form. Samael believed this to be a moment of weakness but acknowledged that in War he had just seen the one who would take down the Destroyer's army on his own. When War returned with the second heart, Samael rewarded him with the ability to temporarily slow down time using the Chronomancer ability, then sent War off to the Ashlands to retrieve the heart of the Stygian, the third Chosen. When War returned with the heart, the demon shortly sent War to the Iron Canopy so that he could retrieve the fourth and final heart of Silitha. Once Samael had consumed all four Hearts of the Chosen his rightful powers were restored. He then taunted the Horseman, saying that with his restored power he could kill him with ease, but relented back and explained that he would not do so on account of the code by which he does business. He also remarked that he knew a quest for revenge when he saw one, even if the Horseman would not admit it, and respected it. Samael then created a portal for War to travel through. The Watcher told War not to enter the Serpent Hole, warning him that it may lead to Hell. War ignored him and continued through the portal, which lead him to the Black Throne. When the Horseman last saw Samael before departing to the Black Throne, the demon told him, "We will meet again". 'Darksiders II' When Death arrived in the Blood Prince's domain in Shadow's Edge to retrieve the demonic key to the Well of Souls from Samael, the demon quickly realized that the Nephilim had come from the future on his own initiative rather than the Charred Council's orders. Though disappointed that Death came alone, as he would be with War in the future, he still made the Nephilim fight for the key. After a long battle between the Blood Prince and the leader of the Four Horseman, Death proved the victor, much to Samael's surprise. Nevertheless, Samael gave Death the demonic key, commenting that no matter what happens, the upcoming fight between the Horseman and Absalom would be an interesting show before vanishing. Personality and Traits Samael's most prominent trait is his own mysterious agenda. The demon prince is always working on his goals but remain unknown even to the Horsemen and fellow demons, he would bargain, manipulate, lie and even fight them if they aid his plans, showing a great deal of intelligence and rationality as what other demons lack. As a demon he is typically insidious, somewhat untrustworthy and evil beyond measures but unlike other demons he would willingly make deals with those that other demons would hate and kill, if they aid his plans of course or for revenge to which he can recognize and respect. Like any other demon lord, those who insult, question or even dare challenge him directly receive a terrible wrath, even moreso when those hear 'stories' about him, to which he angrily told War to be careful and stated that sometimes "the hero dies in the end", these stories are possibly something that would reveal parts of his plans. A very unique trait of Samael is his level of omniscience, he is capable of knowing things that others don't and is able to see things beyond where he resides. Not even the Horsemen are able to escape his sight or acknowledgement keeping little from the demon prince, even if they are from the past or future, an example would be Death coming to the past to retrieve the Demon Key. Possibly Samael's only redeeming quality is his ability to keep his end of a bargain as he states to War that he too goes by a "code of doing business" despite his lack of respect for War's honor, his strive for balance and the Council's laws as he deems ridiculous. Quotes Trivia *All angels are given aspects of God's Names in the Bible. Samael literally means Poison of God. In Judaism he is the archangel ruler of the 5th Heaven, and the Angel of Death *Of the 3 villains in the Book of Revelations: the dragon and the 2 beasts, Samael is the second, Lamb-like, beast since he rises out of the Earth, or in Samael's case arose from his inferno-like prison. Furthermore the Lamb-like Beast is also the False Prophet in the Book of Revelation, which coincides with Samael's interactions with War throughout the game. *Intriguingly, Samael possesses various vampiric traits. His prison incorporated a blood related mechanism, whereby gathered blood was sent to him to free him. It was also through consuming the bloody Hearts of the Chosen that he was able to regain his former powers. Every time he displays use of his powers, particularly when teleporting, flying or opening portals, bats are seen hovering in the area. One of his titles, the Blood Prince, seems to add credence to this. *Samael very much resembles the description of a "lost angel" in ''The Abomination Vault '': Featuring a humanoid body of a size that is about twice that of a normal angel, with horns, tail, misformed skin and upside-down, bat-like wings. Angels who are exiled to hell mutates into this form after a time. This suggests that Samael, like his biblical counterpart, was an angel once. *It is implied in both Darksiders 1 and Darksiders 2 that Samael has immense power, once nearly rivalling the Dark Prince himself, however his strength compared to the Four Horsemen is unknown. He boasted he could kill War before he drew another breath, and may have been toying with Death while fighting him. However, after his skirmish with Death, he was slightly wounded and out of breath, whereas Death was relatively untouched and breathing normally. It is unclear as to who is stronger but it is believed that Samael will become a powerful antagonist in the upcoming Darksiders. *In Darksiders 2, some of the demons in the past Black Stone are called Legion Soldiers and Legion Champions, suggesting that Samael's soldiers were the ones the Legion Artifacts in Darksiders were given to. If so, that would mean that Samael's armies are long dead and suggests that the Overlord artifact may have once belonged to Samael. *Samael is actually one of the few bossess that Death did not defeat (or at least finish off) in his Reaper form, the others being Phariseer, Achidna, Bheithir, and Argul. Video File:Darksiders II Death Comes for All - Official HD File:Samael and 4 Chosen Ones (Darksiders) Full HD Gallery Darksiders017.jpg|Samael and Lilith. ds_samael4.jpg|Full concept art. Samael_cutscene01.png|Enraged Samael. Samael_cutscene02.png|Not happy... not at all... Darksiders_II_OnlineReview_Samael.jpg|Samael seen in Darksiders II. Darksiders II Death Comes for All - Official HD - YouTube 119.jpg samaeltaunting.jpg Category:Darksiders Characters Category:Demons Category:Darksiders 2 Characters Category:Comic Book Characters Category:Bosses Category:Darksiders 2 bosses